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Police shoot driver outside Capitol

This view from the Russell Senate Office Building shows police converging on the scene of a shooting on Constitution Avenue on Capitol Hill near the Supreme Court in Washington on Thursday. A police officer was reported injured after gunshots were heard at the U.S. Capitol, police said. They locked down the entire complex.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A woman driving a black Infiniti with a young child inside tried to ram through a White House barricade Thursday, then led police on a chase toward the Capitol, where police shot and killed her, witnesses and officials said.

Tourists watched the shooting unfold on Constitution Avenue outside the Capitol as lawmakers inside debated how to end a government shutdown. Police quickly locked down the entire complex temporarily, and both houses of Congress went into recess.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who said he was briefed by the Homeland Security Department, said the woman was killed.

Police described it as an isolated event and saw no indications of terrorism.

The pursuit began when a car with Connecticut plates sped onto the driveway leading to the White House, over a set of lowered barricades. When she couldn’t get through a second barrier, she spun the car in the opposite direction, flipping a Secret Service officer over the hood of the car as she sped away, said B.J. Campbell, a tourist from Portland, Ore.

A fleet of police and Secret Service cars chased the Infiniti toward Capitol Hill. An amateur video shows the car circling a fountain in front of the Capitol. The driver slows down as police approach, and then speeds away.

“The car was trying to get away. But it was going over the median and over the curb,” said Matthew Coursen, who was on his way to a legislative office building when the Infiniti sped by him. “The car got boxed in, and that’s when I saw an officer of some kind draw his weapon and fire shots into the car.”

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer said a child was taken from the car to a hospital but said he knew of no harm to the youngster. Tourist Edmund Ofori-Attah said the child appeared to be about 2 to 3 years old.